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Newswire Misreports Gamer's Suicide

Posted by Zonk on from the sad-but-not-surprising dept.

Asriel86 writes "Pulling from the AFP newswire, Yahoo, CNN, and others have been reporting about how a gamer broadcast his own suicide on a gaming forum via a webcam, and that members of the forum continued to ridicule the gamer while he killed himself. Gaming Horizon has just learned that this is completely untrue. The newswire reporter failed to check the facts, and in turn painted this simple gaming forum into cruel monsters. The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."

5 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. *sigh* by Kelson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems there is no tragedy that can't be made worse by sensationalist media trying to make the story fit their preconceived notions of what will get them ratings.

    (Not that reporters have a monopoly on this sort of thing. Self-serving politicians looking to make a name for themselves are entirely capable of it as well.)

  2. What? by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 4, Funny

    The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."

    "Government agencies" can take down websites without even determining if a crime has taken place? Land of the free, hmm? I can see where this is going...

    "Hay guys, it's Bill again. I think that apple.com is actually a secret code for terrorists. You should close it for a few years until your investigation is done."

  3. The real political leaning of the media by arkham6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I love how everyone on the right rails about the media being a leftist propaganda wing, while the people on the left call it a mouthpiece for the Bush white house.

    Both are BS. The press leans whichever way will make it the most money.

    The media exists to make money. Simple as that. They provide a service people pay for, and they temper their reporting to get the most exposure. Ever hear of "if it bleeds it leads?"

    This is simply another example of the media 'sexing' up a story to get more attention and interest. I mean, which sounds more dramatic, "kid kills self, net friends try to talk him out of it", or "kid kills self, net fiends egg him on and watch his deathtrows on webcam."

    The press leans neither left nor right, they lean towards $$$

  4. From the form by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the form:By filling out and submitting this form you authorize AFP and its agents and/or representatives to contact you (via e-mail, phone, and/or mail) about its products and related services, including announcements of special promotions.

    spamspamspamspamspam!

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  5. more info by webwench_72 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Kuja's posting on gamefaqs, with responders' posts:
    http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?bo ard=2000075&topic=25527152&page=0

    One of the metalgearsolid.org's admins tells his story here:
    http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s= &threadid=1777029&highlight=metalgearsolidorg

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